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The differences between creative directors & designer and designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a creative director & designer and a designer. Additionally, a creative director & designer has an average salary of $108,589, which is higher than the $66,347 average annual salary of a designer.
The top three skills for a creative director & designer include graphic design, sketch and photography. The most important skills for a designer are sketch, customer service, and graphic design.
| Creative Director & Designer | Designer | |
| Yearly salary | $108,589 | $66,347 |
| Hourly rate | $52.21 | $31.90 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 52,688 | 52,433 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 74% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Average age | 38 | 38 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
Creative Directors and Designers are responsible for leading the creative output and brand representation of a product, service, or organization's publication. Their duties include developing visual communication strategies across design, content, graphics, artworks, and media, implement industry benchmarks, leading creative marketing campaigns, and working with the design team to create product or service design. Besides that, they are involved in setting the creative direction and message of a brand and supervising the creative team in ensuring brand touchpoints consistency. Creative Directors and Designers also monitor project delivery and assist in creative project budgeting.
A designer is someone who creates a master plan of the look or workings of something before it will be made. It could be tangible or intangible objects, products, procedures, laws, events, games, graphics, services, and even experiences. Designers are creative thinkers with a great eye to configure the skeletal and structural properties of the targeted output. They work in several fields, such as fashion, architecture, web graphics, and user experience. In spite of the variety of professionals in the design industry, all of them are artistic, passionate, inspiring, and emotionally connected to their projects and brands.
Creative directors & designer and designers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Creative Director & Designer | Designer | |
| Average salary | $108,589 | $66,347 |
| Salary range | Between $72,000 And $163,000 | Between $45,000 And $97,000 |
| Highest paying City | Menlo Park, CA | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | California | Washington |
| Best paying company | Meta | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Internet | Technology |
There are a few differences between a creative director & designer and a designer in terms of educational background:
| Creative Director & Designer | Designer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 74% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Most common major | Graphic Design | Graphic Design |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between creative directors & designer' and designers' demographics:
| Creative Director & Designer | Designer | |
| Average age | 38 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 61.2% Female, 38.8% | Male, 56.9% Female, 43.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 10.4% White, 70.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 10.4% White, 70.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 13% | 13% |